Tire Review Thread: Grip or Drift

[URMachines]

it would be usefull for everyone to hear reveiws of tires and performance. please state tire size measures, grip level, cost effectiveness,etc.
thanks

[Drift For Food]

Drifting specifically? General all around performance? What specifically?

As well, there are a few tire sites with good information on tires already, Tire Rack being the best I've come across - www.tirerack.com They do their own surveys as well as a massive user survey listing almost every tire available and its user submitted review and rated performance. When picking out new tires, the site is extremely useful. You can find which tires fit your car, the overall ratings of every tire, and you can find odd quirks of a tire from the user written reviews.

As far as drifting specifically, I think most people go to cheap and available. The general driving performance is not much of a concern if you're just going to burn through them. However, I'm sure there are some that provide better grip or longer treadlife(even when drifting) or maybe better feel or drift/grip transitions. Those are some aspects you're not going to find on Tire Rack. Maybe some users can fill you in for those aspects. Otherwise, check out Tire Rack if you want to see what tires are good for normal driving.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Falken Azenis Sport, 205/50R-15
Drift effectiveness: No experience so far *edit: Ran 'em up front at Buttonwillow, great traction and response.*
Traction: 9/10
Turn-in: 9/10
Weight: 6/10
Treadlife: Who cares. I got 5k out of my 195/60R-14s, and I don't really expect much more out of these. When you drive like I do, you don't get much more than 8k out of tires anyway.
Cost: 9/10
Noise: Don't care. They sound like off-road tires, to tell you the truth.
Comfort: Get out of the sport of drifting if you give a crap. They're stiff.
Recommended: Only if you're a grip fiend or need some really grippy front tires. Too hardcore for most.

BFG Touring T/A, 205/60R-14
Drift effectiveness: 8/10
Traction: 6/10
Turn-in: 6/10
Weight: 8/10
Treadlife: 8k.
Cost: 8/10
Noise: Much quieter than Falken Azenis Sports.
Comfort: Much softer than FAS
Recommended: Maybe in a skinnier width for drifting. Or if you're a pansy.

[dae]

i got some sumitomo htr 200's 205-60-14 in the front for 100 bucks shipped for 2 in front. then i got some used blah crap tires in the back. decent drift setup

[PhoPower]

Yokohama AVS ES100= 10/10 they are great tires.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Kumho Ecsta Supra 712s
225f/245r on a stock 1996 M3
Drift effectiveness: No experience.
Traction: 7/10
Turn-in: 6/10
Weight: ?/10
Treadlife: Since I don't drive the M3 much, probably ~30k.
Cost: 7/10
Noise: Not bad.
Comfort: Eh.
Recommended: NO. These tires roll over more than Von Dutch at the premiere of a teenie bopper movie. Grip isn't that great either.

[LOVMUFN]

Advan Neova AD-05 195/50 R15

Drift Cold 8/10 Hot 10/10
Grip Cold 9/10 Hot 10/10
Life 8/10
Price ~500 USD a set of 4 Not mounted Not shipped

Yokohama ES-100 195/50 R15

Drift Cold 7/10 Hot 9/10
Grip Cold 7/10 Hot 9/10
Life 9/10
Price ~550 USD 6 mounted

Falken Zeix ZE-512 195/50 R15

Drift Cold 6/10 Hot 2/10
Grip Cold 4/10 Hot 0/10
Life 0/10 30 secs Half life of tire GONE!!! WTF
Price ~200 USD 2 mounted

[malcolm]

slicks

radials

Goodyear:
grip - 8/10 (beware of using a softer compound on a heavier car, because the tire will get "greasy" quite quickly. never got to use a pyrometer, but I think they over-heated. don't go below an R430 compound if you have a car over 2600 lbs)

longevity - 7/10 (depending on compound)

consistency - 8/10

max # of heat-cycles - 6 or 7, but performance doesn't fall off dramatically beyond that, but they're garbage after about 8 cycles.

Avon:
grip - 6/10 (these may have been a little too soft for our car, but both times we tried them on the front, the car understeered quite a bit with Goodyears on the rear)

longevity - 7/10 (I abused them a lot, and they seemed to stand up as expected)

Yokohama:
grip - 5/10 (just didn't seem to grip anywhere near a Goodyear or Dunlop, and it definitely wasn't too soft a compound)

Dunlop SP Sports:
grip - 10/10 (grip way beyond any other slick I've tried)

longevity - 10/10 (they last for more weekends than anything else I've tried)

consistency - 10/10 (never had a bad Dunlop, and they are consistent through an innumerable amount of heatcycles)

max # of heat cycles - on the 18" tires on the corvette, they'll be sticky until they're almost down to the cords, so probably about 8 cycles. I also tried 16" slicks on a Radical sports racer (1100 lbs, 252 bhp), and after about 8 heat cycles, the performance dropped off a fair bit.

I would highly recommend Dunlops to anyone, and I've heard they come in a wide variety of sizes too.

Bias-Plies

Goodyear:
grip:
-first heat cycle - 7/10
-2nd to 6th heat cycle - 9/10
-7th and beyond - 6/10

consistency: 8/10 (but try to make sure you get the Goodyears made in Ohio... The ones from Chile are hit and miss. Quality control was not very good down there).

I recommend the R600 compound if you have a car over 2200 lbs, and you want them to last. R430's are good if you just want them for one weekend. I am not sure about the compounds below that for lighter cars.

These bias-plies are FUN to drive on. I loved the 9" wide cantilever slick that fits on a 15x7" wheel, which is what we ran on the turbo FC3S (great way to get wide rubber on narrow wheels, and not have to blow big bucks on wider wheels). I have heard good things about the Hoosiers, but I have never ran them. Apparently, like the DOT-R tires, they are usually about 0.75 to 1 second faster per lap than anything else of the same construction. Ask anyone who races in the SCCA about them, as they seem to be popular there.

Anyway, I doubt this is much help to most people on here, but just in case you want to do a lapping day, I really recommend going for REAL racing tires and slap on some slicks. They are so much more fun to drive on, in my opinion.

[tonesdef]

ES100
traction 9/10
wet traction 10/10
noise highest scores equales more noise 5/10
Tread life a good amount with the amount of camber i have and the drifting i do.
i love the es100's there great and cheap as hell for my 15's. Oh they blow in any weather under 50 degrees and don't have any traction in the snow but rock in the wet. and and when warmed up they make a lot of noise while drifting but while driving there nice and quite not a whole lot of noise

Fm901's
traction 8/10
wet traction 7/10
noise ummm yeah beyond ten you even get on these things and they make a ton of noise. The front make more noise than my rear does i run 712's right now in the rear. There ok tires but not as good as es100's and cost more for the 15 inch size.

Sidewalls for both well i have stretched 195's on my 8.5 inch rim so i don't have much side walls but the fm901's have very very weak side walls. I can still flex them while there stretched the es100's i couldn't.

I'll be staying with my es100's tile something better comes out or i get more power to break something more sticky.

and and the azines rock for auto x but my freind has a hard time doing second gear pulls in his 240 the tires like to let go than grip out of no were. I would just stay with them in the front or just autox.

[LOVMUFN]

ES 100's are now my favorite tire. After a heafty amount of drifting D1 style corse including doing the big banked corner I only went through one set and if I flipped them they would have lasted WAY longer. I don't know if I would flip them on a corse like that because they are rotational and I have heard they lose grip a notacable amount when you run them backwards. BIG reccomendations on the ES 100s.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Firestone Firehawk GTA
195/60R-15 on my S13's rear
Drift effectiveness: Very effective. Easy to spin, lasts a long time, progressive
Traction: 5/10
Turn-in: Not front.
Treadlife: at least 3 hours, seem like they could go longer
Cost: came on the car when I first bought it, dunno what they cost new
Noise: Scream like banshees when sideways. Sweet.
Comfort: Who freaking cares for drift tires?
Recommended: Yes

[URMachines]

just got my falken azenis st-115 sport tires
225/45/17
24540/17
they are not on yet but ill post a reveiw later this week after i put them on my advans

[Ripper]

yokohama avids: 195/70R/14. wore out very quickly

i have some pirelli P6000's but don't know the size. very durable (thick) for burnouts and all that good stuff

[Darkstar]

Both tire sets were used on a 2003 Lexus IS Sportcross (Eurospec.).

Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position

Grip dry: cold 7/10, hot 8/10. Average when cold. The hotter the better.
Grip wet: 5/10. They suck in the rain.
Grip effectiveness: 7/10. They're holding hard when they're hot and the temperature is fairly high, but in other conditions it gets worse.
Drift effectiveness: 8/10. They're quite hard ones, making them quite easy to slip when cold. Their grip is superb only in dry conditions - in wet they aren't that good.
Turn-in: 7/10. Above the average.
Traction: 8/10. Really good when it comes to driving at flat roads. Stiff compound results in better "bump-feeling" at your butt.
Comfort: 5/10. Not that good.
Noise: 1/10. Loud as hell!
Tread wear: 7/10. Keeping good, but won't last longer than one and half a season.
Cost: 4/10. Quite expensive ones. More expensive than Toyo T1-Ss or Goodyear F1s, less expensive than Dunlop SP Sport Maxxs.
Affordability: 6/10. There are definetely much better tires. Buy Advan Noeva AD-07s if you can.

Goodyear Eagle F1

Grip dry: 9/10 cold, 10/10 hot. Softer compound than in the Bridgestones makes them feel great!
Grip wet: 8/10. Worse than Pirelli PZero Neros, but still very good.
Grip effectiveness: 9/10. Great turn-in, good dry traction, good overall handling and good wet surface scores make them feel great when grip-driving.
Drift effectiveness: 5/10 Bridgestones are definetely better for drifting. They're easier to slip and last longer because of the stiffer compund.
Turn-in: 9/10. Simply great!
Traction: 8/10. Better than the S-03s.
Comfort: 7/10. They feel softer than the Potenzas, what gives you a pleasant ride. They also absorb the bumps on the road better, and the "butt-feeling" effect is reduced a lot.
Noise: 6/10. Much, MUCH more silent than the Bridgestones. But hey, who said the high performance tires need to be silent?
Tread wear: 7/10. Despite the softer compound, they're as good as the Bridgestones here.
Cost: 5/10. Cheaper than the Bridgestones, but still the price isn't like in a discount shop.
Affordability: 7/10. Really good choice for high performance everyday driving. Worse choice for a drifter tough.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Bridgestone Potenza RE92s
195/60R-15 on my S13's rear
Drift effectiveness: Very effective. Easy to spin, lasts a long time, progressive. Smoke pretty decently, allowed me to get some of the longer KA drifts at VegasDrift
Traction: 5/10
Turn-in: NA.
Treadlife: ~20 laps of a medium-sized drift course
Cost: $140 used for four mounted and balanced
Noise: Scream like banshees when sideways. Sweet.
Comfort: Who freaking cares for drift tires?
Recommended: Yes, especially used

My drift setup is Falken Azenis Sports (205/50) up front with whatever used tires I buy out back and I find that the car turns in well and responds exceptionally well to weight transfer.